Guerriero hopes outsider status wins her votes in public advocate race
Cathy Guerriero has never run for public office in her life, but like a baseball ballplayer who skips the minors and goes straight to the major leagues, she is making her maiden voyage into politics by seeking one of the top spots in city government.
Guerriero, an adjunct professor at Teachers College at Columbia University, is one of five candidates running in the Democratic primary for public advocate. The primary is Sept. 10.
The public advocate, a sort-of ombudsman for ordinary New Yorkers with gripes against city government, is a little known office that operates mostly under the radar. The office operates with a budget of less than $3 million year. And there has been talk of abolishing the office altogether. But under the City Charter, the public advocate is next in line to become mayor if something were to happen to the mayor. The current public advocate, Bill de Blasio, is running for mayor.